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GENEALOGY 974.9 N421D V.25
M. L
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01292 2586
GENEALOGY 974.9 N421D V.25
ARCHIVES
OF THE
STATE OF NEW JERSEY.
FIRST SERIES.
Vol. XXV.
This volume was prepared and edited by authority of the State of New Jersey, at the request of the New Jersey Historical Society, and under the direction of the follow- ing Committee of the Society :
WILLIAM NELSON, GARRET D. W. VROOM, AUSTIN SCOTT, FRANCIS B. LEE,
ERNEST C. RICHARDSON
DOCUMENTS
RELATING TO THE
COLONIAL HISTORY
OF THE
STATE OF NEW JERSEY.
EDITED BY
WILLIAM NELSON.
VOLUME XXV.
EXTRACTS FROM AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS, RELATING TO NEW JERSEY.
VOL. VI. 1766-1767.
PATERSON, N. J .: THE CALL PRINTING AND PUBLISHING CO.
- 1903.
PREFACE. 1136417
In the opening pages of the present volume are chronicled the final struggles for the repeal of the Stamp Act, which was carried through the House of Commons in March, 1766, by a majority of one hundred and eight. The "Sons of Liberty" mean time kept up their agitation, holding meetings in the principal centers of population, whereat they adopted resolutions avowing their unalterable loyalty to the king, but their independence of parliament; denouncing the Stamp Act, and demanding and compelling the resignation of the stamp distributors. Men suspected of a willingness to render obedi- ence to the law were not only ostracised, but openly threatened as public enemies. A creditor who tried to enforce the collection of a debt by due process of law quickly had the tables turned on him by his debtor denouncing him as one who favored the obnoxious act. inasmuch as the execution must needs have the tabooed stamps af- fixed. At Elizabethtown hanging was voted to anyone taking out stamps. The lawyers and magistrates of the Province quite generally ignored the law, and transacted legal business without stamps. The thoughtful reader will herein discern in many ways signs of the irre- sistible onward movement destined to culminate within ten years in the assertion of total independence of the mother country. The reso- lutions to use no British importations were so generally observed throughout the Colonies that soon the ministry found themselves vigorously attacked in the rear, by the London merchants engaged in American trade, who publicly protested against any legislation by parliament that would anger the Americans and cause them to with- draw their trade from England; and with no uncertain sound these merchants demanded the repeal of the Stamp Act, in order to save their commerce. Governor Franklin's acquiescence in the measure, lukewarm though it was, angered the people of the Province, and was perhaps the origin of the assertion that his father-Benjamin Franklin-was the author, or at least the suggester, of the hated legislation, this story being given out in explanation of the Governor's attitude. William Franklin's manly denial of the report in 1766 ought to have satisfied every fair-minded man that there was no foundation for the slander. But nevertheless it survived for scores of years. When the Stamp Act was finally repealed, the popular exultation was tempered by a feeling of exasperation that such a measure should ever have been enacted, by apprehension at what might be attempted next by the angered ministry, and by a grim
vi
PREFACE.
realization of the indomitable power of a united American people.
Moreover, the discussion over the law just repealed had led men to a study of the broader subject of the rights of the Colonists generally. The first Book of Blackstone's Commentaries, issued in November, 1765, was finding its way into American libraries, and thoughtful men, stirred by the pending danger of further parliamen- tary legislation for the Colonies, took a new inspiration from that pregnant definition of the civil rights of British subjects : "The right of personal security consists in a person's legal and uninterrupted enjoyment of his life, his limbs, his body, his health, his reputa- tion." True, it was but a broader assertion of the principles contain- ed in the Bill of Rights asserted by the liberty-loving subjects of Charles I. a century and a quarter before; but the idea fell upon new soil, under newly-fructifying influences, and within a decade was to be crystalized into the famous Declaration : "That all men are cre- ated equal; that they are endowed by their Creator, with certain un- alienable rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." An article asserting the dependence of the Colonies on the mother country, their obligations to her, and need of her protect- ing care, led to an able reply in the London Chronicle, in 1767, here- in reproduced. Richard Stockton, of New Jersey, was in England or Scotland about the time this reply appeared, and there are some internal evidences that he was the author, rather than Benjamin Franklin.
Hardly were the passions of the Colonists allayed by the repeal of the Stamp Act, than their apprehensions were once more aroused by the untimely sermon of the Bishop of Landaff, deploring the "heath- enism" of the Americans, and urging the appointment of American Bishops to supervise their assumed spiritual needs. William Living- ston, of New York, and the Rev. Dr. Charles Chauncy, of Boston, leaped to the defence of America, and attacked the Bishop, in whose suggestion they professed to discern a new and most insidious design on the liberties of the people. The Rev. Dr. Thomas Bradbury Chandler, of Elizabethtown, replied with his "Appeal to the Public in behalf of the Church of England," advertised in the newspapers of November 23, 1767, which instead of allaying but increased the popular alarm.
While the Americans were gradually winning their way toward greater political and religious liberty they were likewise steadily progressing toward economical and industrial freedom. Especially in New Jersey was there a marvelous development of the iron indus- try, particularly in the northern counties, where new mines were opened on every hand, and new forges and furnaces set up. The bog iron in the more central and southern counties still supplied material to the furnaces in those regions. The repeated references to iron
vii
PREFACE.
works indicate the great strides the industry was making in the Province. Even Newark, remote as it was from the sources of sup- ply of the raw material, had its iron furnace, and by way of London we are informed of the successful manufacture of steel at Perth Amboy in 1767, news not otherwise confirmed, however. Under the circumstances, the restrictions imposed on American manufactures by the British ministry, and their inquisitions concerning the indus- tries in Morris, Sussex, Warren and the upper part of the present Passaic counties, were deeply resented, provoking annoyance and fears.
The copper mines near New Brunswick and Rocky Hill are oc- casionally mentioned in these pages, their operations appearing to be rather sporadic.
Other evidences of industrial activity are the inventions herein referred to : as of an iron furnace that by the use of a current of hot air was to run the ore directly into pig metal or castings, provided just a little more capital were forthcoming to perfect the scheme. Was this an anticipation of the Bessemer process? A "Metalline conductor"- Franklin's lightning rod-on the Sandy Hook light- house was believed to have saved the building from destruction when struck by lightning, in 1766. Henry Guest, a tanner and currier, of New Brunswick, naturally believing there was "nothing like leather," proposed to roof houses, churches and other public buildings with sole-leather, which he was confident would last a hundred years, and be impervious to fire and water. And so far back as 1767 we have a description of that perennial contrivance, which has never come into use, for detaching runaway horses from a carriage.
We learn that in 1767 the population of New Jersey was estimated at 90,000.
A curious view the English had of America in that year is given us in an extract from a London newspaper, which describes the Colonies as occupying a low and narrow strip of unfertile land, stretching a short distance from the ocean to the Alleghany mountains, beyond which was a still more unattractive region inhabited only by hostile savages.
Meanwhile this "narrow strip" was developing prodigiously. In New Jersey the agricultural resources of the Province were advanc- ing by leaps and bounds. The farms and orchards were increasing in value. There was "dollar wheat" in 1766. Hemp and flax were more generally cultivated, under the double stimulus of the bounty offered by the Legislature in 1765, and the increased demand for household consumption. The silk culture was also attracting some attention. "Burlington pork" had a name in the public markets, and a hog weighing 850 pounds, raised in New Jersey, spread abroad the fame of her farmers. Fish, oysters, clams and wild fowl of all
viii
PREFACE.
.
sorts were among the valued features of a farm offered for sale at Middletown. "Trenton sturgeon" were still a prized delicacy of the Philadelphia markets. Attention was called to the possibilities of the culture of the carrot, which had "been found growing wild for a hundred years in an old Indian field." Much interest was manifested in the improvement of the breed of horses, to which end, perhaps, horse races are announced to be held at Powles Hook, Newark, Elizabethtown, Woodbridge and New Brunswick. The value of the forests is recognized in the advertisements of oak, bilstead, poplar, ash and nut trees.
Gratifying is the evidence to be found in this volume of the pro- gress of education in the Province. The College of New Jersey, at Princeton, is increasing its number of students, despite the criticisms of the irascible steward by a dissatisfied butcher purveyor. The College mourns the death of President Samuel Finley, whose effects are advertised to be sold, "among them two negro women, a negro man, and three negro children, household furniture, horses, English cattle a choice collection of books, religious, moral and historical." The friends of the College are cheered by the news that Richard Stockton, its emissary to Edinburgh, has succeeded in per- suading the Rev. John Witherspoon to accept the vacant Presidency. The commencements of 1766 and 1767 are described at length, with the names of the participants and of the graduates. Here we have, also, the story of the beginning of Queen's College, in . our day anchored, firmly in New Brunswick, and known as Rutgers. These colleges undoubtedly gave an impetus to the growth of secondary schools, which were now multiplying. Among the advertisements we notice that a Latin school is to be opened at Princeton. The gram- mar school at New Bridge, near Hackensack, for the teaching of Latin, etc., finds a rival in a new school opened in the village of Hackensack, by Dr. Peter Wilson, afterwards a distinguished member of the faculty of Columbia College, in New York. The grammar school at Elizabethtown is to be opened "upon a more enlarged plan." The Rev. Samuel Kennedy's school at Baskinridge is steadily improv- ing in fame and influence. We are informed that for pupils attending the grammar school in Lower Freehold, "the whole Expense of Board and Tuition will not exceed Twenty Pounds," or about fifty dollars per annum. The "Mattisonia grammar school," at Freehold, is continued. The boarding school at Burlington, in 1767, is said to have been the first co-educational school in America.
The character of the schoolmasters employed appears to be im- proving. Most of these grammar schools are under the tuition of Princeton graduates. The ordinary schools were not so fortunate in the character of their teachers. We find that one former schoolmas- ter had also been in his Majesty's army, and afterwards in service,
ix
PREFACE.
apparently as a redemptioner, from which he ran away. He must have been quite a presentable figure in his "blue broad Cloth Coat, blue spotted swanskin Jacket and blue Breeches." Another instruc- tor of youth, who was advertised as being "abroad," in the literal sense, had broken open and robbed a store near Salem. Still another was one Thomas Gordon, who broke out of Elizabeth goal; he had "frequently taught school, but nevertheless was a notorious felon." The public are informed that an English servant who ran away from Change Water Forge "might perhaps say he has been a clerk or schoolmaster, as he writes well and talks good English."
The Trenton Library Association was holding meetings in 1766.
The New Jersey Medical Society was engaged in the occupation of trying to suppress quackery. A surgical operation for lithotomy, performed at Newark, naturally attracted wide attention from the physicians and surgeons of the day, it being perhaps the first operation of the kind ever performed in the province.
The chalybeate spring, near Gloucester, was proving to be such a favorite resort for invalids, that a boarding house was established near by for their accommodation.
New Jersey loses in 1767 her most promising poetic genius, in the person of the Rev. Nathaniel Evans, whose untimely death is mourned by a far wider circle than his little congregation at Gloucester.
The intelligent population of New Jersey presents an attractive field for newspaper publishers, and the rivals of James Parker's "New York Gazette and Weekly Post Boy" naturally resent his exercise of his authority as comptroller of the post offices of America, to obstruct their circulation, to the advantage of his own paper.
Other evidences of improvement are the efforts made to afford in- creased facilities for travel. Newark at last rejoices in a stage line once every day to Powles Hook, which is made possible by the com- pletion of the new road across the meadows. Salem and Cooper's Ferry (now Camden), have a stage line communication once a week in 1767. "Flying Machines" must have made the passengers between Philadelphia and New York dizzy, by the rapidity of their journey, the time being now reduced to two days, between April and Novem- ber, and three days, during the rest of the year, starting from each end of the journey at sunrise, and charging twenty shillings for the whole journey, or three pence per mile for any shorter distance. The fare has not been so greatly reduced in the last one hundred and forty years, but instead of two or three days, it now takes only as many hours, the cost of five or six meals on the road has been eliminated, and there is considerable difference between traveling in those old fashioned stage coaches over precarious dirt roads, and riding in a luxurious railroad car over level steel rails. Even the swift rate
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PREFACE.
of travel in 1767, between New York and Philadelphia, was not en- tirely satisfactory in those days, and a lottery was set up for shorten- ing and improving roads between those places. The drainage of the meadows along the upper waters of the Passaic river was still occupy- ing the attention of the property owners in that region, as it has more or less ever since. The example of the Burlington county authorities, who set out mile stones for a distance of seventeen miles from Mount Holly, is noted favorably in the newspapers of the day, and com- mended to the people of other localities in the province. Wrecks on the low Atlantic beaches of New Jersey are reported from time to time, with occasional accounts of plundering by local land pirates.
The letters sent home to England from settlers in the new country naturally gave glowing accounts of the great prosperity and good fortune of the writers, as well as of the rapid growth of the new country in wealth, and these in turn as naturally gave rise to a yearning on the part of many in the mother country to lay claim to a share of this wealth through traditionary accounts of vast estates in the Colonies which had belonged to their ancestors. So we are not surprised to see it reported that certain credulous people are coming over from England to America "to claim land given to their ancestors almost a century ago, including the City of Elizabeth."
Contrary to all these reports of prosperity are the advertisements of something like eighty debtors claiming the benefit of the insolvent act of 1765. Occasionally these debtors were able to settle, and so we find Samuel Allinson, the famous Burlington lawyer, advertising for a client, or his representative, for whom he had unexpectedly re- covered a debt of long standing. It is reasonable to supose that all the other lawyers of New Jersey in that day-as in this-were equally honest, and would have gladly advertised for missing clients to whom to pay over moneys unexpectedly recovered, under similiar circumstances.
The barbarous character of the penal and slave laws of the day are indicated by many of these newspaper extracts. A negro slave who ran away from his master in Trenton, had an iron collar about his neck. Two horse thieves were sentenced to be hanged, and, no doubt, the sentence was carried out. Two Indian women were murdered near Moorestown, under circumstances of peculiar atrocity, and their murderers speedily paid the penalty of the law. The promptness of Jersey justice in 1766, in Sussex county, was striking- ly exemplified in the trial of a white man for the murder of an Indian; he was arrested and arraigned on the 18th; tried and con- victed on the 19th; sentenced on the morning of the 20th, and hanged the same afternoon. Grand larceny was punished by burning in the hand. A negro suspected of having murdered his master, near Hack- ensack, was compelled by the coroner to touch the corpse, in com-
xi
PREFACE.
pliance with an ancient superstition, the truth of which was verified to the satisfaction of all beholders when blood immediately issued from the dead body, thereby establishing beyond peradventure the guilt of the accused, who, accordingly, was promptly tried by a jus- tice of the peace and three freeholders, convicted and sentenced to be burned alive, the sentence being carried into effect forthwith. A negro who killed his master at Hopewell escaped this torture by hanging himself, but the savagery of the people of the neighborhood was only sated by having his dead body cut down and burnt the day after. A foot traveler was murdered on the road between New York and Philadelphia, apparently from the "back settlements," and his murderers seem to have escaped.
The paper money of the province was so badly printed as to in- vite counterfeiting, which appears to have been quite generally prac- ticed. This, perhaps, is the foundation for the presumption which was subsequently acted upon by the State, immediately after the Revolution, that all outstanding paper notes were counterfeits, and, therefore, were not a valid claim against the treasury.
As in former volumes, the advertisements of runaway servants are not only instructive as throwing light upon the character of service and of slavery in those days, but are diverting from the descriptions of persons and clothing of the runaways, some of whom for example were clad in a "light colored sagathy coat;" "a gray and red jacket, brown breeches and ribbed blue stockings ;" "buckskin breeches, blue yarn stockings, checked shirt, beaver hat, black silk handkerchief about his neck;" "light colored plush breeches, silver buckles in his shoes ;" "hair tied behind and blue Surtout red Jacket lapelled, light colored Cloth breeches ;" "on examining his Head close you will find a soft Place on the Top occasioned by a Blow;" "he can counterfeit the Voice of Cats and Dogs;" "he wore blue broad cloth coat and breeches, and a red vest;" "a Felt Hat with a narrow brim; red Jacket made of an old regimental Coat, with a Piece put in down the Back, and half worn Oznabrigs shirts, Petty-Coat Trousers, blue Yarn Stockings and Old Shoes." A German who ran away from the iron works in East Jersey "had been engaged by contract for three years and four months, and had been brought to this country from Europe at a very great expense." A "Dutch" runaway servant man could "talk the German, French, Spanish and Portuguese languages, had on and took with him a reddish brown Cloth Coat, double breasted, without Lining, with white Metal flat Buttons, a blue and white striped Linen Jacket, without Sleeves, a pair of Kersey Breech- es, Sheep's natural black and white, and a pair of linen Ditto white, two Linen Homespun Shirts, a half worn Felt Hat, two Pair of white Yarn Stockings, a pair of strong Shoes, half worn, both run crooked to the left Side, with strings to them." A Mosquito shore Indian
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PREFACE.
who ran away from his master at Whitehall, in Burlington county, perhaps resented the published assertion that he "took with him a fiddle, but plays badly on it." Another runaway servant carried a "hogskin knapsack, with the hair on." A man who escaped from his bail wore a "blue Broadcloth Coat, with a black Velvet Collar, Claret colored Velvet Jacket and Breeches, plain Silver Shoe and Knee Buckles."
What a fine old seignorial mansion must have been the stately residence of Robert Lettice Hooper, at Trenton, with "a handsome orchard of English cherry trees" leading up to it.
The thoughtful reader, glancing through these pages, with their infinite variety of news items, advertisements, controversies and speculation, will find the society and the events of the day depicted with marvelous fidelity, and will receive new and indelible impres- sions of the actual state of New Jersey and its people in 1766 and 1767, as he could from no other source.
By way of correction it should be remarked that the foot-notes on page 277, identifying the captain of a merchant vessel at New York in 1767 with Horatio Nelson, England's greatest admiral, are obviously incorrect, as Nelson was then but eight years old.
FEBRUARY 10, 1906.
Newspaper Extracts.
TO BE SOLD,
A Valuable Farm, containing 260 Acres of Land, situ- ate in Hunterdon County, West Jersey, about 150 Acres thereof cleared, and in good Fence; it is excellent Wheat Land, and a sufficient Quantity of Meadow, in good Grass; there are on the Premises, a large new Brick House, two Stories high, genteelly finished, with other convenient Buildings and Out-houses of Brick; a large Frame Barn, with Barracks, Cow-houses &c. all in good Repair; a large Stone-Grist mill, with two Pair of Stones, on a never-failing Stream of Water, in a plentiful Wheat Country conveniently situated for Philadelphia or New York Markets.
Also 500 Acres of Land in Sussex County, near Dela- ware River, whereon are two Improvements; it is good Wheat Land, and has a considerable Quantity of Meadow cleared thereon.
Likewise 240 Acres of good Wheat Land, situate in the County of Sussex aforesaid, within a few Miles of Dela- ware River, with considerable Improvements thereon. And 300 Acres of Land, situate in the County of Morris, near Black River, near 100 Acres of good natural Mead- ow, capable of producing Hemp or Flax, with some Im- provements made thereon.
And also One Fourth Part of an Iron Forge, situate on Musconetcung River, in the County of Sussex afore- said, with about 2000 Acres of Woodland; well timbered.
For further Particulars, apply to HENRY BURNET, Conveyancer, on the West Side of Third-street, the first Door above Market-street. Philadelphia.
2
NEW JERSEY COLONIAL DOCUMENTS.
[1766
Hunterdon County, ss. Trenton, December 21, 1765.
PURSUANT to an Act of General Assembly of the Prov- ince of New-Jersey, lately passed, intituled "An Act for the Relief of insolvent Debtors," Philip Atkinson and John Erwin, now confined in Trenton, in the County of Hunterdon, hereby give Notice to all their Creditors, that they intend to take the Benefit of the said Act, and that the Judges of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, for the County aforesaid, have appointed Tuesday the 14th Day of January next, for the Creditors of the aforesaid Debt- ors to meet at Trenton, at 10 o'Clock in the Forenoon, to shew Cause, if any they have, why an Assignment of the said Debtors Estates should not be made, and the said Philip Atkinson and John Erwin discharged, according to the Form and Effect of the said Act of General Assembly.
THREE POUNDS Reward.
RUN away from the Subscribers, living at Brown's Mills, in Nottingham Township, Burlington County, West New-Jersey, a Mulettoe Servant Man, named John Johnston, but it is likely he will change his Name; he is about 25 or 26 Years of Age, about 5 Feet 8 or 10 Inches high, has a Lump on his Lip, thought to be his under one, and has a down Look: Had on, when he went away, a half worn Castor Hat, a light coloured Broadcloth Coat and Vest, half worn, ribbed Worsted Stockings, new Shoes, and has with him a Pair of double-soled Ditto, also a large Buckskin Jacket lined with white Flannel, a red half worn Great Coat, Leather Breeches, and sundry other Things. He is a very talkative Fellow, given to Drink, and lived some Time ago with Jos. Biddle, then with James Smith of Burlington, afterwards with Richard Brown, and lastly with the Subscribers. Whoever takes up said Servant, and secures him in any of his Majesty's Goals on the Continent, so as his Masters may have him
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